Opinion
(AC 20896)
Argued June 8
Officially released June 12, 2001
June 12, 2001, the date that this decision was released as a slip opinion, is the operative date for all substantive and procedural purposes.
Petition for the termination of the respondents' parental rights with respect to their minor child, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New London, Juvenile Matters at Montville, and transferred to the Child Protection Session at Middletown, where the matter was tried to the court, Schuman, J.; judgment terminating the respondents' parental rights, from which the respondent father appealed to this court; thereafter, the court, Levin, J., denied the respondent father's petition for a new trial, and the respondent father filed an amended appeal. Appeal dismissed.
Opinion
The respondent father appeals from the judgment of the trial court terminating his parental rights with respect to his minor child. We dismiss the appeal because the respondent failed to appear for oral argument.
Trial counsel for the respondent father, who had been appointed by the court for purposes of trial, moved to withdraw from the case following the judgment rendered by the trial court upon granting the termination petition. The court appointed an attorney to review the record to determine if an appeal was warranted. Substitute counsel concluded that no nonfrivolous issues for appeal existed and declined to pursue an appeal.
The minor child's biological mother consented to the termination of her parental rights conditioned on the court's granting the termination petition against the father.
Members of the court's staff placed telephone calls to the number provided by the respondent father but were unable to communicate with him. The respondent father failed to appear as of the conclusion of this court's docket.
The petitioner, the commissioner of children and families, has consented not to begin adoption proceedings until July 7, 2001.